Page 55 of Iron Shield
Jolie settled beside her on the bench. “What’s going on with Rome, Stina?”
The question lingered between them. For a moment, Stina considered lying. Then she remembered who she was talking to. Jolie would see through it in about three seconds.
“It just kind of…happened.”
Jolie waited.
“We kept fighting,” Stina admitted. “Every conversation turned into an argument. Every argument turned into another argument. Then I was arguing with him about how he treated me when he interrogated me about that guy at the restaurant. The next thing I knew…” She stopped and rubbed her face. “I don’t even know how it happened.”
But it was so damngood.
A smile tugged at Jolie’s mouth. “Fight or fuck.”
Oh god.She was right. She’d never personally experienced the phenomenon—she only wanted to hit her boyfriends with a frying pan when they fought.
Despite herself, Stina laughed, but the sound faded quickly because the truth sat right behind it.
She stared at the floor. “Now I can’t quit thinking about him.”
The confession came out quieter than she’d intended—and way too honest.
Jolie didn’t speak right away, and her silence wasn’t helping matters.
Stina looked over. Her friend was watching her with an expression that settled somewhere between concern and understanding.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” Stina admitted.
“Nothing’s wrong with you.”
“Yes, there is. How many times have you told me I have terrible taste in men?” She closed her eyes and opened them again to see Jolie’s smile hadn’t faded.
“It’s true that you haven’t had any healthy relationships.”
“This isn’t a relationship. It’s just two people hooking up. Two people scratching an itch.”
Jolie cocked a shapely eyebrow. It was irritating enough that she never had to tweeze them into that shape, while Stina had to wax and torture hers into looking feminine and refined.
But the longer Jolie remained quiet, the more Stina’s mind lingered around the memory of Rome’s—Jack’s—hands on her.
And the fact that she’d spent the majority of her time wondering where he was and if she’d run into him.
“He drives me crazy,” she muttered. “One minute he can’t get close enough to me.” Stina stared at the floor. “The next he’s barking orders and acting like none of it happened.”
“Because he’s scared.”
“Or because he regrets it.”
Jolie’s smile softened. “Sometimes people fight because they’re trying to create distance.”
“Distance?”
“Yeah. If you’re attracted to somebody and they scare you a little, arguing is easier. Anger feels safer than vulnerability.”
Stina immediately pointed at her. “No. Absolutely not. You’re not analyzing me with your new psycho-babble. You’ve only taken how many weeks of classes? You’re not a shrink yet. Rome and I argue because he’s bossy.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And controlling.”
